Stanford Iranian Studies director tells NPR discussion with Michel Martin weighs reasons Iranians are leaving and whether U.S.-Iran hostilities can end

Stanford’s director of Iranian Studies, Abbas Milani, appeared on NPR with journalist Michel Martin to discuss the crisis atmosphere shaping life in Iran and the prospects for reducing U.S.-Iran hostilities. The conversation, published Aug. 14, 2026, focused on what Martin described as an increase in Iranian departures and the question of whether there is a realistic path to end the “U.S.-Iran war.”

Martin opened the interview by asking Milani why “more Iranians” are leaving their country. The question framed the issue as more than a temporary travel trend, tying it to conditions inside Iran that encourage people to seek safety, stability, or opportunity elsewhere. Milani, speaking as a long-time academic analyst of Iranian politics, addressed the drivers behind the outflow as part of a broader assessment of what conditions could change the trajectory.

A second theme of the interview was whether a diplomatic or political off-ramp exists to end what NPR characterized as the U.S.-Iran war. Martin asked Milani whether there is a feasible route to reduce and ultimately conclude the conflict dynamic, and Milani responded directly to that question during the interview.

Milani’s role at Stanford positioned the discussion within an academic perspective on Iran, rather than as an official statement from any government. In the NPR segment, he is described as director of Iranian Studies at Stanford, and Martin’s questions aimed at linking Iran’s internal pressures with the external conflict between the United States and Iran.

The interview therefore served as a public forum in which a university scholar tackled two connected issues: the reasons Iranians may be seeking to leave and the strategic question of what “ending the war” would require. NPR’s framing also highlighted the stakes for individuals and families, since migration decisions often reflect calculations about safety and long-term prospects as much as economics.

With the discussion published on Aug. 14, the interview adds to ongoing public debate about U.S.-Iran relations, including how analysts evaluate diplomatic space and how conditions inside Iran interact with external pressure. The next step for audiences seeking more detail would be to review Milani’s full remarks in the NPR interview, where NPR’s questions are answered in sequence rather than summarized as separate policy documents.